BODY OF THE PREY

"The credits on the version of this movie which exists today are actually for the movie "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and bear no relation to this film. This comes from when they were originally intended to be released as a double feature.

"Contrary to popular belief, this film was not directed by Kenneth G. Crane, was not made in 1970, was not produced by Toei Company, and was not titled "The Double Garden". It was originally filmed in 1966 as "Body of the Prey" and it was produced and directed by Norman Thomson. Thomson was the popular pulp novelist of the Burns Bannion series, which he wrote under his pen name 'Earl Thomson'. The production was assisted by members of the United States military bases in Japan and shot on location there. During production, Al Rickett wrote about the making of this film in the 'Stars & Stripes' newspaper, as well as having a small part as a gas station owner. However, while Edward D. Wood Jr. claimed he wrote the script for this film under the title "Venus Flytrap" and placed it on his resumes, reports of the making of the film in 'Stars & Stripes' claim Thomson wrote the script. It's possible that Wood sold the script to Thomson and it was slightly re-written before production. It's undetermined if the completed film was released theatrically, in either Japan or the United States."

I have taken the liberty of replacing the credits with the data listed on the IMDb, footage from the Moody Institute's "Carnivorous Plants," and a little music from "Knife of the Party." I did it with my handy-dandy NERO. Since this created a NEW work under the law, despite being a simple combination of Public Domain works, I slapped a copyright notice on the back. Hack those off and the film belongs to everyone. If you don't, expect trouble from YouTube! The original VHS release can be downloaded from Public Domain Movie Torrents, complete with incorrect credits under the "Revenge of Dr. X" title.

Whether or not Ed Wood had anything to do with this steaming dogflop of a film, it's certainly worthy of his name!

Reviews

I want to thank Skybandit for uploading this and to help answer a question I had regarding this movie. Had Body of Prey aka Venus Flytrap (or as I've known it for years, the Revenge of Dr X) been made in 1970, the theory that Ed Wood had written it wouldn't ring so true to me. Knowing it was made in '66 and may have been an original story sold to Thomson makes much more sense.

I firmly beilve the story idea came from Wood but nothing in the script itself feels like an Ed Wood script. The dialogue isn't jaded and stilted. The scenes, while mostly uninteresting don't drag as bad with tiresome speechs and the sleaze element is missing which is something Ed Wood's work was known for from 1960 til the end. I can easily imagine Apostolof passing this story up because of the lack of exploitiation he could fit into it. There's not much worth marketing here for a movie made in 1966. Space age stories were losing their flare by then and the mad doctor genre was all but finished by the end of the 50's. Biker films were gaining steam and full fledged nudity was becoming the norm. There's a nude scene of sorts in it but it's more incidental than anything. If A.C. Stephens (or S.C. Apostolof) directed this, the scene would be 5 minutes long and there would be 5 more of them (see Orgy of the Dead for proof)

...from the very first scene, when Angry Doctor incoherently explodes about not having any cigarettes while his colleague reminds him he doesn't smoke. I've seen James Craig turn in adequate performances in The Cyclops and a few bit roles, so the film's problems lie elsewhere. Still, it's watchable and fun.

Every movie does not need to be an Academy performance, for Pete's Sake!

I feel that if a group of humans and/or plants, or any kind of ?, can create a movie of any kind, should be admired! It is so easy to sit back and criticize someone's efforts. YUP It seems to me there is an enormous amount of work and cost to do any movie. Kudos to anyone who attempts to try and make a movie.

I always try to watch any movie with an open and accepting mind. AHHHHHHH Yes, the acting and script was pretty silly & bad.

There is so much that is bad about this movie. A person could spend the rest of her/his life listing it all. It's just stupid and awful, but there was enough that was amusingly bad to get me through it. I couldn't watch all of the movie in one sitting.

There is a definite Plan 9 from Outer Space vibe to the characterizations and story, but without that movie's charm. The plot and several story elements come from the 1931 Frankenstein movie. The dialog is mostly inane as the story meanders from scene to scene. The cinematography is really bad.

The star, Anger Man, is apparently a space research executive, who through overwork in finishing a project has had a breakdown, so he takes a vacation to pursue another interest. Anger Man nuts up over anything and nothing throughout the film. Perhaps seeing a therapist would have been a better choice than a vacation, but then we wouldn't have had this movie. Anger Man has a Japanese friend who agrees to help him cross a Venus flytrap with a rare Japanese carnivorous plant that she has heard may exist near her family home. They go to Japan, eventually finding the plant. He crosses them, making a ridiculous, green, man shaped monster with roots on its head, red Venus flytraps for hands, light yellow petals around its neck, and a kind of evil looking face with hollow eyes. This all proves his thesis that man descended from plants. Yeah. In a twist on the Frankenstein story, rather than the monster getting the brain of a murderer, Anger Man injects it with blood he takes from a deranged person so that it can walk. I guess he's completely around the bend by this point, but it works.

I downloaded the 1.2GB MPEG1 file. Expect muddy video, the audio less so, not that it matters, and bizarre music.

This is my new favorite movie! From the Romper Room sounding music, questionable science and the doctor with anger issues, it's an hour and a half of entertainment. And I agree, it sure sounds like one of Ed's movies (story and dialogue), although the sets are better than his usually are. I'm going to recommend this to my select group of friends that enjoy the truly horrible :-)

I suspect that the association with Toei is the monster "Insectivoras". Toei most likely created the monster suit. I may be wrong, but I think that it has a certain "Toei look" to it. Toei has been credited for the creation of Yongary and the miniature effects for that film. For those who don't know, Toei is the studio that produced Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot (aka Giant Robo) and the original Japanese versions of Power Rangers.
This movie must have gotten some sort of distribution since it is known under multiple titles and a print was available to make the initial gray market VHS release under the title "Revenge of Dr. X". I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that no U.S. Distributor would have put this thing out under the obtuse title "Body of the Prey" What the heck does that mean anyway. It sounds like it might be a lose translation of a Japanese title and that makes sense. They would have had a title to shoot under and worried about a more acceptable title when the time came to sell the picture. It's still done this way a good bit in the film industry.
'Venus Flytrap" or "The Devil's Garden" sound like appropriate titles to me. Heck, even "Revenge
of Dr. X" isn't too far off the mark. I suspect that the use of credits from "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island" probably happened because the VHS distributor did not know what movie he had and MDOBI had the most similar plot description. The titles were new. They were not lifted from a print of Mad Doctor as those look very different
from the titles tacked on to this movie.
A for effort in creating the new title sequence
but the title 'Body of the Prey" was probably never used.

A bad movie and the dialogue is certainly bad enough to have been written by Ed Wood. "Flattery will get you everywhere doctor!" I was half-listening while working and looked up to see three topless Japanese women walking on the beach. I wouldn't have had it running at work had I known that. Nothing obscene (unless you think nudity is obscene) but not work safe. I'm halfway through and getting impatient for killer plants...
3 points for the badness of it all. Check out the music especially.